Impact and hardness optimisation of composite materials inspired by the babassu nut (Orbignya speciosa).

The babassu nut is the fruit of the babassu palm Orbignya speciosa. The combination of hardness and impact strength is difficult to acquire for artificial materials, making the babassu nut a promising source for biomimetic inspiration. Unnotched Charpy impact tests, Shore D hardness tests and scanning electron microscopy were used for mechanical and microscopical analysis of the pericarp. Four major principles were found for a biomimetic approach: a hard core ((1); endocarp) is embedded in a soft outer layer of high impact strength ((2); epicarp) and is reinforced with fibres of variable fineness (3), some of which are oriented radial to the core (4). Biomimetic fibre-reinforced composites were produced using abstracted mechanisms of the babassu nut based on regenerated cellulose fibres (lyocell, L) with two different fineness values as reinforcement embedded in a polylactide (PLA) core matrix and polypropylene (PP) based outer layers. The biomimetic fibre composite reaches a significantly higher impact strength that is 1.6 times higher than the reference sample produced from a PLA/PP/L-blend. At the same time the hardness is slightly increased compared to PP/L.

Osteoconductive bio-based meshes based on poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) blends.

Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) and Poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) are biopolymers that have the potential to be used in applications of bone healing. In this study, it is hypothesized that the polymer blend has the combined strength and osteoconductivity to support osteoblast collagen formation. PBAT (PBAT 100), and a blend with 20% PHBV (PBAT 80) were extruded in the form of fibers and then knitted in the form of mesh. These were tested in the warp as well as weft direction for the tensile properties; these showed that the weft direction had higher performance than the warp. The individual fibers were kept in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) over the period of 8 weeks and were tested for the storage and loss modulus using a dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA). The results indicated that mechanical relaxation strength showed a decrease and then an increase. In vitro osteoconductivity studies were done by using differentiating osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1 subclone 4 cells). Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) showed that pre-soaking the samples in α-MEM for two weeks resulted in cell attachment and growth. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the change in structure of polymers due to in vitro degradation for two weeks. Raman spectroscopy showed that all scaffolds supported the formation of a collagenous network over the scaffold surfaces. For a combination of knittable manufacturing, mechanical performance and osteoconductivity, blends offer an effective route.